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Lädt ... The Field Guide to Typography: Typefaces in the Urban Landscape (2013. Auflage)von Peter Dawson (Autor)
Werk-InformationenThe Field Guide to Typography: Typefaces in the Urban Landscape von Peter Dawson
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From American Typewriter to Zapf Dingbats - this highly engaging and fascinating visual reference helps novices and experts alike identify the typefaces we encounter every day. A quarter of a century ago hardly anybody knew what a font was, let alone the difference between Times Roman and Palatino. But in the present era of blogs, social media, and even a feature film devoted entirely to Helvetica, choosing a typeface is as important as picking the right tie for a job interview, and identifying fonts has evolved into a 21st-century urbanite's version of bird-watching. Written for type fanatics of all stripes, award-winning designer Peter Dawson draws on his immense knowledge to help readers identify and understand the fonts that appear in our daily lives. Inspired by traditional field guides, each spread examines one typeface in depth, listing its designer, year of release, and a brief history that addresses its origins, common uses, and distinguishing characteristics. Hundreds of color photographs reveal typefaces at work in airports and train stations, on smartphones and book jackets, online and in signage. Also included are interviews with influential designers such as Freda Sack, Henrik Kubel, and Jason Smith, and tips for distinguishing between similar-looking fonts. Brimming with facts and photos, this helpful guide offers aspiring as well as proficient "font spotters" all the information they need to identify type in the real world. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Peter Dawson’s Field Guide is just a little different from those birding books. It lists and describes “125 typefaces — classic and contemporary, common and unusual — found in our modern urban environment and on the day-to-day objects we come into contact with” and provides budding ‘font spotters’ with profiles of each of those typefaces. They’re grouped into five categories (Serif, Sans Serif, Display, Script and Symbols and Dingbats), with each typeface accorded a minimum double-page spread, text on one page, photos on the other. As with bird-spotting guides each also includes a ‘Not to be confused with’ feature. In amongst the entries are double-page comparisons between pairs of key typefaces as well as seven revealing profiles of typeface designers. Along with a visual guide to type anatomy (glyph width, x-height or bracket, for example) are an essential glossary and a typeface classification, plus the usual further reading lists, index and other paraphernalia.
This is such a rich treasury of designs, despite being limited to just 125 typefaces — less than 0.1% of available designs. The main division is between Serif (familiar to us from, say, Times New Roman) and Sans Serif (typically, Arial). Other Serif typefaces include PMN Caecilia (my Kindle has this), the elegant Perpetua (designed by Eric Gill in the 1920s), ITC American Typewriter (dating from the 1970s its chunky look, a bit like the earlier Courier, seems rather clunky now) and Galliard (very corporate, very impersonal to my eyes). Designs based on historic forms are not neglected either: classy Bodoni, Baskerville and the related Mrs Eaves with their 18th-century origins, and Shàngó Gothic plus the upper case Trajan, both modelled on classical inscriptions.
Unlike the case of Serif designs where much variety can be created by more obvious visual changes, distinguishing Sans Serif typefaces can require more skill: subtle changes are effected by stroke contrast, shapes of bowls, size of eyes or alignment of terminals. Having said which, distinctive forms have been created as a result of commercial commissions such as Channel 4’s bespoke typeface, Bath City’s custom signage design or Neutraface for architect Richard Neutra’s buildings; and innovative solutions have resulted in such idiosyncratic designs as Jeremy Tankard’s Fenland design and Chalet with its distinctive circular lower case forms.
Display typefaces differ from those designed for large bodies of text. Standouts for me are the ‘futuristic’ Amelia expressing the 60s zeitgeist; the Art Nouveau spirit of the historic Arnold Böcklin and the 1970s ITC Benquiat; the jazz age typeface of Broadway; the much maligned Headline 2012 designed for the London Olympics; and FF Trixie with its distressed typewriter look popularised by TV series The X-Files. Script typefaces include Bickley Script originally designed for Letraset transfers so that lower case glyphs could look joined up; Fette Fraktur and Old English based on Black letter Gothic scripts; Macmillan Headline created for advertising a British cancer charity; and Owned, looking like graffiti lettering with a variety of ligatures and character variants. Finally, the short Symbols and Dingbats category features for example Carta (with its map-specific glyphs) and pictograms designed in conjunction with the Latin American typeface Kakaw 2013.
I can only scratch the surface but Dawson’s fascnating text is full of interesting titbits and ‘Field Facts’. He is fair in pointing out criticisms of designs, such as Helvetica, but also indicates the virtues of the otherwise despised Comic Sans for dyslexia sufferers. Anybody who has eyes to see can’t help viewing the urban landscape in a different way, but I would only warn you: at 384 pages this hardback is not a field guide you can easily slip into your pocket. It’s a visually attractive book, however, and one you might hope would be given to you — as it was to me — as a present.
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